The following post was written by Melissa Fleuret, Brand Marketing Intern.

This summer, I spent my vacation as a brand marketing intern for Avanade Inc. based in Seattle, WA. Looking back on this experience, I learned so much more than I could have in a classroom. I loved working in the office, and was given two monitors and a docking station for my laptop, which also granted me the opportunity to work from home (it's part of Avanade's tech vision). One perk of going into the office: the awesome kitchen on the third floor with the free fancy pantsy coffee machine and every syrup you could dream of. As you can guess, I took advantage of this often.

My role was part of the Corporate Communications team, and one of the best parts was the people I met over the course of my internship. I worked with almost everyone on the team via different projects, and I even met a fellow alumna from my university! I sat next to my colleague, who is also part of the Corporate Communications team, and she helped answer all of my questions on a daily basis (thanks Silvina)! The team treated me as an equal, even though I was only an intern. When I had an idea or a question, everyone was open to hearing it and helping me out. My boss, the Director of Brand, is probably one of the funniest people I have ever met. Last week, he told me my homework was to watch a couple episodes of Seinfeld. Talk about the greatest homework assignment ever!

During my tenure, I dipped my toes in almost every aspect of the Avanade marketing and communications organization run by our CMO, Stella Goulet. The projects ranged from competitor research, to our sponsorship and partnership with Lotus F1 Team, to recruitment marketing and event marketing. My boss would frequently ask me what I was most interested in and helped put me on those types of projects. When I first started, I was very interested in event marketing and promotions, but this internship opened my eyes to other aspects of marketing and, by the end, I’ve become quite interested in branding.

My favorite project was TechSummit, Avanade’s largest internal in person training event. At the event, held at Microsoft’s Redmond campus, I helped manage the Lotus F1 Team simulator, a smaller version of the team’s car in which employees were able to race around a video track. I also managed the internal social media posting on Yammer, went out to eat with my colleagues and so much more. It really showed me what a large business conference was like. I loved this project because I got to meet and get to know my virtual colleagues. I now have so many more connections and friends in the company.

This was my third marketing internship, and by far, my absolute favorite. Avanade provided so many opportunities to learn, grow and succeed. I was able see what it was like to work for a large global company and I learned a tremendous amount about the IT industry, teamwork, the Microsoft platform, communicating via Lync calls and emails, how to work around time zones and so much more.